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The HOTCOMP Safety Group Announces Collaboration with Atlas Lift Tech
Texas Mutual’s Online Workplace Diagnosis
The HOTCOMP Safety Group Announces Collaboration with Atlas Lift Tech
The HOTCOMP Safety Committee’s main focus is to help our member hospitals create a safer work environment for their employees. Historically, strain injuries have been the top cause of the HOTCOMP Safety Group’s claims. Patient handling is one of the highest risk activities for hospital employees to sustain a strain injury. The committee has focused on finding a solution to help our hospitals with safe patient handling (SPH). This problem is not unique to our hospitals. In recent years, the US annual Workers’ Compensation claims for SPH has exceeded 7 billion. Like everyone in the healthcare industry, our hospitals must develop solutions to Safe Patient Handling and Mobility (SPHM). The HOTCOMP Safety Committee is excited to announce a collaboration with Atlas Lift Tech to help our member hospitals develop the best safe patient handling solutions.
ATLAS Lift Tech is the partner of choice for SPHM programs in health facilities nationwide. Founded in 2009, Atlas Lift Tech is transforming the way care delivery organizations nationwide deploy and manage safe patient handling and mobility programs. Atlas provides proven and effective practices that reduce caregiver injury, promote patient safety, and produce a thriving and sustainable culture of safety. Atlas Lift Tech’s clients include some of the largest healthcare systems in the country including: Stanford University Medical Center, Memorial Herman, Tenant Health, and Cedars-Sinai. Working together with a facility’s interdisciplinary team, Atlas identifies opportunities for the integration of an SPHM program customized to the unique requirements of each facility.
This collaboration will allow our hospitals the opportunity to take advantage of the same knowledge and tools that the larger healthcare systems have. Atlas offers a fresh perspective on what our hospitals can do to reduce injuries among staff members involved in patient handling. No hospital is immune to the challenges of employee injuries due to strain. The program will benefit both hospitals with a proven track record of having a successful employee safety program and those hospitals who struggle with the challenge of employee safety.
The first step the HOTCOMP Safety Committee is asking our hospitals to complete is the free online Self – Assessment. This Self – Assessment was developed as an analysis tool that incorporates the guidelines and benchmarks of the ANA Interprofessional Standards. Later this month your hospital’s representative will receive an email from HOTCOMP. The email will contain both a personal registration token and a facility registration token that can be given to others at the facility interested in taking the Self – Assessment. The safety committee is striving to have 100% of our safety group member hospitals complete the Self – Assessment. Please take the time to have your hospital complete the Self – Assessment.
If you have any questions please contact the Program Administrator, Barry Couch.
On February 22nd 2017, the HOTCOMP Safety Committee had its first Safety Symposium hosted by Texas Mutual. The symposium was an opportunity for John Calvert, Senior Safety Specialist at Texas Mutual, and Barry Couch, HOTCOMP Program Administrator, to meet with committee members and discuss what we can do to improve patient safety.
The symposium started with Atlas Lift Tech representatives Eric Race and Jack McSweeney presenting the Atlas Lift Tech’s expertise in improving Safe Patient handling for hospitals. This was a wonderful opportunity for our safety committee to learn about what Atlas Lift Tech can do for our hospitals. After much discussion, the safety committee voted to move forward with the initial stages of the Atlas Lift Tech collaboration by recommending that all of the safety group’s hospitals take the Self – Assessment.
Chuck Norris, Barry Couch, John Calvert, Emily Dossey, Nicole Schweigert, Carol Villareal, Gayle Cannon, John Henderson
- The management of workers’ compensation in a labor intensive business, such as hospitals, has a large impact on the operating margins and productivity.
- The importance of a successful workers’ compensation program to have prompt diagnosis, treatment and early return-to-work to be the primary driver to decreased costs over time.
- When bearing a significant risk over a prolonged time period it is essential to manage the cost of care for work related conditions.
In conjunction with Dr. Bernacki’s presentation, Dr. Nicholas Tsourmas, Medical Director at Texas Mutual Insurance Company, talked to the committee about the initiatives Texas Mutual is working on to help their clients reduce costs. He discussed Texas Mutual University; a program to ensure doctors have the proper knowledge to treat and evaluate Workers’ Compensation patient claims.
The HOTCOMP Safety Committee then had the first quarter meeting to discuss the committee’s goals for 2017, review our claims dashboard and claim trends. The committee then discussed what we can do to improve our hospital members’ safety practices. The day concluded with an open discussion of what we can do to continue to reinforce the importance of a Culture of Safety at our hospitals.
The HOTCOMP Safety Group appreciated the opportunity that the symposium provided. Texas Mutual and our member hospitals have one main goal, to continue to improve employee safety.
Texas Mutual’s Online Workplace Diagnosis
Workplace Diagnosis is the first online, real-time patient diagnosis video tool for physicians. In each video, Texas Mutual medical director Dr. Nick Tsourmas diagnoses a common workplace injury you see everyday in your practice.
Just simply select an area of the body you wish to learn about, then select a specific injury. Check back right here for more videos as they are added in the future.
Texas Mutual has launched a Texas Star Network directory app to make finding a network provider easier than ever. Employers, injured workers, physicians and agents can download the app for free on their Apple and Android devices.
Download the app here or search for Texas Mutual in the Google Play or Apple app store.
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This mobile app makes it possible to find care for workers at any time, whether in the office or at a job site. The app also offers informational, easy-to-access videos about the claims process and Texas Star Network that employers can use for training purposes or in the event of an injury.
The app allows you to:
- Locate an urgent care facility or treating doctor
- Find a specialist
- View your prescription card and locate pharmacies
- See injured worker articles and resources
- Access employer resources, such as helpful videos
Navigating the app
Click here to view a how-to guide for navigating the Texas Mutual mobile app.
Your Safety Committee
The HOTCOMP Safety Committee meets three times a year to discuss the issues of safety in our member hospitals and what we can do to do to help make them safer workplaces.The majority of the Committee members are administrators and safety specialists in your fellow member hospitals. We understand that issues come up through the year. If you would like to post a question to the safety committee members as a group or individuals, please email us at safety@hotcomp.net. We will pass your questions on to the appropriate member(s).
| Barry Couch, CEO | Linda Rasor, CEO |
| Program Administrator | Castro County Hospital |
| John Henderson, CEO | Gayle Cannon, Director of HR |
| Childress Hospital | Childress Hospital |
| Chuck Norris, CEO | Carol Villareal, HR Manager |
| Gonzales Healthcare | Gonzales Healthcare |
| Emily Dossey, COO | Marcy Murrell, Co-Safety Director/Infection Control Nurse |
| Hamilton General Hospital | Sweeney Hospital |
| Nicole E. Schweigert, Director of HR | |
| Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Flower Mound |
About Safety Matters:
It is our hope that this publication, in addition to Texas Mutual’s Safety Resource Center, proves a useful tool to promote safety in our members’ hospitals. The newsletter will focus on safety issues that specifically trend to our membership hospitals.
We hope to hear from you on safety issues your hospital is facing and on successful safety procedures you have implemented. It is the safety committee’s goal to create a collaborative exchange of ideas that contributes to making all of our hospitals safer which, in turn, will increase our safety group’s benefits.
Please send your ideas, questions and comments to safety@hotcomp.net.
Why Your Safety Matters:
You’re receiving this email as a member of the HOTComp safety group. The group is a joint effort between HealthSure and Texas Mutual Insurance Company.
Group members receive exclusive benefits like targeted safety resources, a discount on their workers’ compensation insurance and potential dividends based upon the safe performance of the group. HOTComp group participants have shared in over $1 million in group dividends since 2008 in addition to individual dividends from Texas Mutual.